Monday, January 30, 2012

Translating

Yesterday a book came in the mail. Ahh~~ I remember this... Last summer I spent two or three months (and hours and hours and hours) helping translate a book for the prefecture. I consulted with the original translator (I don't read Japanese so someone translated into English and I corrected the translation), I sent in my final copy and I was paid well. But I never heard hide-nor-hair of anything after that. Do I really want to know? I was getting frustrated at the translator and with trying to keep close to the original Japanese...The translator sent her work to me while I was in the States and I resented having to work on my vacation. I pouted and ranted and told everybody that I was NEVER going to do translation work again!

Yesterday I peered into the postal envelope. Yep a book. Wow. A good sized book!

Not bad... not bad... I leafed through a few pages. Japanese on one side of the page, English on the other. No glaring errors and I am not going to look for any. (I'm sure there must be a few I missed. Gulp.) The book goes directly onto my shelf

I had been so frustrated with this translation attempt but seeing the final product makes me slightly proud to have been a part of it. No, my name isn't anywhere in this book and I had nothing to do with the contents but still I helped out a bit.

I'm sorry that I grumbled about the original translator. I hope she is proud of herself too.

About Me

I have lived in Japan for 37 years and currently live with my husband, 5 cats and a dog. My two children are living and working in the States. I have been a quilter for over 20 years but I am semi-retired and teach English occasionally. I love the Bible and Jesus and try to serve as I can to His glory